Meet this year’s captains

Steven Docherty, Men’s Basketball

Hometown Glasgow

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?) 

That would be Chris De-Suza. He takes ages to get dressed and just generally messes about. And he does everything really, really slowly.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together? 

We all have a good insight into the sport. We also respect each other and are all on the same page.

Is anybody in your team a bit of a dark horse? 

Tim Reinoth. He’s worked really hard over the summer. I can see improvements in every part of his game.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

Seb (who’s the co-captain) thinks he has the best luck with the ladies. And Magic has the worst luck because he’s just really blunt. He doesn’t understand social conventions and makes really awkward situations. It’s actually dead funny to watch.

David Cox, Men’s Tennis

Hometown Bearsden

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or anyone else in the club?

Ooh this one’s difficult as I don’t drink though me and Ethan have still been removed from Viper for drinking too much. There was also the time we were chased by gypsies in Lanzarote when we were away with the tennis club…

Who takes the longest to prepare for a match (and what do they do to prepare?)

Radslab. He spends a lot of time psyching up in the mirror. He’s always changing his hair and playing with his sock levels.

What is it about the club which makes you work well together?

We have a good 220 members now and everyone’s really keen. There’s people who do play competitively and others who just do it for fun. We’re all sociable and it’s a friendly atmosphere so we do well as a result and it all meshes together nicely.

Who in the club is a bit of a dark horse?

Calum Gibson-Smith. He plays for the firsts. He’s not around much, he just kind of turns up then disappears again.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

Ruaridh Watson. He doesn’t really let on but he’s a bit of a ladies’ man.

Rory Curran, Men’s Ultimate Frisbee

Hometown Aberdeenshire

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or a team member?

At our Christmas social the then president was too drunk, so I tried confiscating his wallet at the club. He didn’t like this idea and instead opted to throw it across the club shouting “if I can’t have it nor can you”. He finished the night arguing with the cloakroom attendant about a non-existent jacket due to a raffle ticket he found in his pocket.

That year he lost numerous phones, wallets, keys, and a tooth among other things. The highlight was probably the time he turned up home at 4am shoeless, keyless, phoneless, walletless, soaking wet and topless with his shirt in hand.

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?)

Duncan Webster, who’s on a year abroad. He takes ages in front of the mirror in order to perfect his quiff.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

Joint determination. We train together working towards the same goal and back each other up when on the pitch.

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

Axel Ahmala because he’s sleeping with someone from Strathclyde Uni and they’re called the Dark Horses.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

I’ll mention Duncan again, he shows a lot of promise but fails to deliver.

Caitlyn Rose Martin, Cheerleading

Hometown Glasgow

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or anyone else in the club?

There was a pub golf evening and you know those plastic golf sets you get when you’re like 5? Well, apparently you can unscrew them.

So we did that and filled them with drink and were just casually walking about the West End drinking out of them.

Who takes the longest to prepare for an event (and what do they do to prepare?)

We all take forever! But probably me if I’m honest because I’m worst at doing my hair and make-up. We tend to do each other’s hair and make-up and I’m forever holding everyone back.

What is it about the club which makes you work well together?

I think everyone is open and friendly. It’s not a sport which is very well known in Scotland so a lot of people come to try it out to see if it’s for them. We’re all there for a laugh and we’re such good friends.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

It’s such a big club, over 100 people, so it’s difficult to keep tabs on everyone’s stories. Everyone I can think of is in a long-term relationship so I think most of us have done pretty well for ourselves.

Nicole Ranes, Women’s Football

Hometown Skövde, Sweden

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or a team member?

I woke up one Thursday morning with a black eye and was told I had walked into a lamppost on my way home from Viper. My excuse at the time was I couldn’t see it because it was too dark.

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?)

Emma Stephen always insists on applying fake tan before a game, takes ages perfecting the bow she wears in her hair and always wears a gum shield because she has a fear of getting her teeth knocked out.

She also has a really strange pre-game ritual where she lies on the floor in the showers and listens to Barack Obama’s “Hope” speech.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

We are like one big family and spend most of our time together. This is partly because a lot of our members are international students who really want to make the most of their year abroad.

We focus on team success over individual and this shows both on and off the pitch. We are an inclusive club and all levels are welcome.

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

Kate Findlay, (also called sexy horse after being a dark horse), tends to drink often during “never have I ever”…

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

Tori Korona seems to be very lucky and if not always then extremely often will have company on her way home from Wednesday nights at Viper.

Rowan Sinclair, Women’s Hockey 1st

Hometown Edinburgh

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or a team member?

One girl was getting a bit too energetic against a car with a certain someone after another night at Viper, causing the car alarm to go off. Her tour name this year was “Miss Fuck and Furious” in honour of this event.

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?)

Ellis Calcutt, last year’s captain and this year’s club captain, took the longest to prepare for a game. Every week for BUCS and then sometimes twice at the weekend she would need to select a squad, prepare a team talk and give us our objectives for the game. I suppose preparing for a game includes fitness too which she also organised.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

We’re all really good friends. In last year’s team we had a lot of older girls who’d known each other for the entirety of uni, and they welcomed the new freshers so well it was like we had big sisters.

Now some of the girls have graduated (boo), the team is still really close, with five of us even living together this year. Being so close makes it easy to be brutal on the pitch when you need to be, as we all know it’s constructive and not someone being nasty.

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

Kirsten Turnbull is definitely the dark horse of the team. She’s a total brain and quite quiet until you get to know her, but then on the pitch and off she knows how to score.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

Kirsty McKean won the prestigious award of SLOTY (Slut of the Year) 2015 at club dinner this year. So I would definitely say she has the best luck with the guys.

Judith McConaghy, Women’s Hockey 2XI

Hometown Ballymoney, Northern Ireland

 

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game? (and what do they do to prepare?)

I’d have to say me because I like to come to a match all tanned which usually takes me a while.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

Probably because we train so much and we’re always with each other. We know each other on and off the pitch as we go to lots of socials and spend time together.

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

Rebecca Boyle, because she seems lovely and sweet and dead chatty when you first get to know her but she’s different when you really get to know her. She’ll do anything to get into a club, including crying to a bouncer.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

That would be TG just because she’s TG.

Grace Batchelor, Netball

Hometown Dundee

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or a team member?

Well, we had a challenge at our first social where we had to get a topless picture. It was so nerve-wracking but actually quite fun.

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?)

Rachel Goldsmith. She always has the perfect face of make-up and her hair is always perfect, although sometimes from the night before. I don’t understand how someone can go to sleep but then wake up looking so fresh.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

Probably just the amount of time we spend together. We train long hours and late at night. Also the social aspect helps us. Everyone has a lot of focus, and it’s just really fun to be a member of the team

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

Danielle Morgan. She’s insanely fit and runs marathons.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

Let me think, don’t want to drop anyone in it. Best would have to be Nina Smith, she always has like a million guys. Anna Logue has the worst luck. Got a really funny Snapchat one night which I screenshotted. She’s going to kill me for this!

Amina Malik, Women’s Ultimate Frisbee

Hometown Nuneaton, England

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or a team member? 

Not a drunk story, but our token Hungarian once turned up to a date with a grapefruit.

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?)

We’re all pretty good if I’m honest. Everyone has their own way they like to prepare for a game. Personally, I like to get a mouthful of sweeties and a squish of Lucozade on board to get me going. I do have to make sure we have plenty of faff time before warmup though. We love to natter.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

This may sound a bit cliché, but we genuinely all get on so well. I think this makes a huge difference and is great for our team dynamic. We work hard for one another both on and off the pitch because we know our buddies are doing the same.

We’ve set some tough goals for ourselves, but together we’re getting there and I really do believe this year is where we reap the rewards for the hard work we’ve been putting in. Fingers crossed.

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

We had a great bunch of keen freshers join us last year. Two of whom went on to win a national club outdoor tournament this year with our local club team, Glasgow Ultimate.

Many of our girls represent Glasgow Ultimate and have had success with them this year, including two who have represented as part of Great Britain and Ireland’s nationals squads this summer. So, basically, we have a few.

 

Alicja Ciesielczuk, Women’s Volleyball

Hometown Warsaw, Poland

Funniest/most memorable drunk story from you or a team member?

I’d have to say it’s a tie between our first social and GUSA Ball. Our first social we collaborated with the Muay Thai guys was more of an ice breaker as we were all getting to know each other. The night boosted off with classic drinking games etc. You get the memo. The next day one of us woke up in a relationship, and we all bonded like wasted girls in the Viper toilets.

Fast forward a few months: GUSA BALL. Imagine this: our veebs girls combined with the guys from Muay Thai. So what do we do? We rent a limo. It was basically the classiest yet unclassiest night of our lives. I swear to God, not only did we all tumble out of that limo, but a few of us didn’t even last until the meal.

Who in your team takes the longest to prepare for a game (and what do they do to prepare?)

No one, we’re always set and ready and on the court before the opponents. They’re the ones usually taking their time, mentally preparing themselves as they watch us warm up. You know what I mean? Black and gold winners since day one.

What is it about your team which makes you work well together?

With volleyball being a team sport, it’s very important to understand we need to work together in order to win. I think the fact we’re all so comfortable with each other on court and know each other so well.

It’s like we’re all a small family which has come together from different parts of the world. We’d do anything for each other, especially scrape our faces in order to dive for that ball which was meant to be taken by someone else.

Who in your team is a bit of a dark horse?

That’s a tough one. Honestly though, I would have to say Cass. She’s always been good, don’t get me wrong, but it was so satisfying seeing her stand up to our coach.

When he wanted to switch her off for another player when we reached the game point, she just gave him this look, turned around, and served that ball so hard, it landed us an ace. It was just WOW, props to that girl.

Who has the best/worst luck with the guys/ladies?

I don’t want to push any buttons, but if I may spill the beans, I’d say our very own Mhairi. She went MIA on the night of the Glasgow Taxi Cup, but it turned out, not only did she pull the opposing team’s Men’s Volleyball captain, but also the Men’s Basketball captain. Classic Vazz. Baller of the year.